Preps Plus.

Weighing risk vs. reward

Public League mulls switch in state qualifying

ROCKFORD — For the longest time, city basketball fans have bemoaned the fact that some of the best teams in the Public League never get a chance to play in the Class AA quarterfinals.

All those teams are funneled into the city playoffs, with the Public League having one guaranteed berth in the Elite Eight rather than being divided up into various sectionals and potentially earning multiple berths.

That could all change as the Public League is seriously considering a bold move of giving up its automatic quarterfinal berth in eight sports to see if two or more boys and girls basketball teams can qualify for the Elite Eight.

While nothing is written in stone, the move is proposed by Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan and the Illinois High School Association appears receptive.

Duncan contacted Marty Hickman, the IHSA associate executive director, recently to discuss the move. Duncan said he has a meeting with the principals association this week and then plans a meeting with Hickman as soon as possible to further discuss the move.

"The pendulum has swung back and forth on that issue, but right now the Public League is looking at giving up its automatic berth," said Hickman, who will replace the retiring Dave Fry July 1 as executive director.

Such an action would have a dramatic impact on boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball, dual wrestling, baseball and girls softball teams throughout the state. It's potentially the biggest change for boys basketball in the 30 years since the tournament split into two classes and created the Public League supersectional. The girls have received an automatic bid since the girls state tournament began in 1977.

"For this to happen by the next school year, we've got to begin moving pretty quickly and have some things in place by April," Hickman said. "I don't see the IHSA having any problems with it. We wouldn't care if they had two or three teams in the boys basketball quarterfinals."

Duncan said his goal is not to get more basketball teams Downstate but to create a more level playing field for the majority of Public League athletes. He said the move is part of a broader effort to create smaller schools in the city that could then compete against Class A competition, not the Class AA competition they face in the current system.

"We have about 20 schools that would fit in the smaller class," said Duncan, who added he hoped to create three or four more small schools for next fall. "The goal isn't to have more state champions [in basketball]; it's to get more students . . . in a competitive environment against like-sized schools."

Duncan said he would like add sports at schools to increase participation and that he views athletics as an important foundation to academics.

Boys basketball is by far the Public League's showcase sport. The move could earn more spots in the state finals but would likely cost the city representation in other sports where Public League teams could be eliminated at the sectional level. Public League teams have fared poorly in state finals competition other than boys and girls basketball and baseball.

In sports such as girls softball, girls soccer and girls volleyball where the city teams struggle against suburban counterparts, a Public League team has been given a quarterfinal berth--much to the consternation of many suburban teams, who think they are more deserving.

Duncan said "it makes no sense" to get berths the Public League may not deserve, and that a humiliating loss at that level can do more harm than good.

Such a move certainly wouldn't disappoint those suburban coaches who feel slighted by the automatic berths but could anger Public League coaches in these sports that believe only by playing against the best can their programs grow.

"We shouldn't have an automatic berth, period," Farragut coach William Nelson said. "If teams aren't good enough to win at the sectionals, then they don't deserve to be going Downstate. [We] would still like to be able to play for a city championship. I'm quite sure we could work out our playoff system around the state playoffs. They're able to do it in football."

Hickman said the IHSA would have no problems with the Public League basketball playoffs running simultaneously with the state series. City teams would simply have to compete in one fewer tournament during the regular season.

"If this happens, we would simply put all the Public League teams on a map like everyone else and divide them up geographically for the playoffs," Hickman said. "There would probably be two sectionals with predominantly Public League teams in it along with some Catholic school teams that are in the city. You would probably have a few Public League teams assigned to bordering sectionals in the south and near west suburbs."

This season there are five teams in the Red West--Crane, Young, Westinghouse, Farragut and Curie--that are legitimate state contenders. All except Curie are ranked in the Associated Press' state poll of the top 16 teams.

Just look at Farragut (10-6), considered the third or fourth best in the Red West, playing so well against Rockford Boylan on Saturday in the MetroCentre in a 78-58 rout at the High School Hoops Showdown. Milwaukee Vincent downed Rochelle 93-65 in the opener.

Boylan (17-2) is No. 9 in the AP poll and is the favorite to capture the Rockford supersectional and qualify for a trip to Peoria.

"All of us younger coaches want to do away with that automatic berth and take our chances going through the sectionals and supersectionals," Nelson said. "It's ridiculous.

"There have been times when I've looked at the eight teams in the quarterfinals and we've beaten four of them."